American League Links: Orioles, Francisco, Indians

Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun previews the Orioles' Opening Day roster and checks in on some 2010 Orioles who have since joined other organizations.

Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas asks whether the Rangers made a mistake when they traded Frank Francisco for Mike Napoli. Rangers GM Jon Daniels says Francisco was "very good" out of the bullpen when healthy, but notes that Francisco isn't completely healthy at the moment. The right-hander is set to visit Dr. James Andrews.

Even when healthy Frank proved he isn’t reliable as a closer. That’s why he lost the role to Wilson before he became a starter and the Rangers went with the rookie Feliz rather than give Francisco the job again.

Don’t get me started on that. The Rangers’ beloved manager actually once was quoted as saying he’d rather have a closer like Mariano Rivera than an ace starter like Roy Halladay. (I can’t remember if Halladay was actually the ace example used in the hypothetical, but that’s besides the point.)

Yes. He really said that. I don’t want to bash the guy too much. He’s not without his positives as a manager. He handles players well, brings tons of energy to the clubhouse and fosters a pretty resilient attitude.

But as a baseball strategist he’s sometimes confounding: He loves to play the infield in in the first inning, bunts early in games, makes strange moves with his bullpen and, of course, prefers closers to aces.

What makes it more frustrating is all he has to do is look at last season. They went to the World Series with an inexperienced closer. And what put them over the top in the AL? Acquiring an ace at the deadline.

I feel like Alexei Ogando is just jumping up and down waving his arms around trying to get the attention of Rangers’ management. The guy has had one of the better springs this year by a Rangers’ pitcher, and is still getting overlooked as anything except a setup man

If Wash and the rest of the Rangers management was serious about making guys compete for jobs this spring, Holland, Feliz and Kirkman would be in the starting rotation on opening day with Webb replacing Kirkman when he’s ready. No, Tommy Hunter’s handful of starts last year (and suckage in the postseason) doesn’t earn him a spot this year despite his terrible spring. Ogando would be the closer, and everyone else can fight over the setup jobs. I would think one of Lowe/O’Day/Oliver/Rhodes could potentially be a solid 8th inning guy for the team, and set up men are much easier to acquire by trade than closers/ace pitchers if they falter. They should also be grooming Scheppers for the bullpen this year because his future is probably back there anyway and his stuff is as good as anyone on the staff

Don’t know why you say Feliz isn’t ready. He’s certainly ready to be a big league starter. Might not be an ace out of the gate, but few are. As others have said, even an above average starter typically brings more value than a closer.

The real problem is Webb. He’s not even close. He’s talking like he’s confident he’ll be ready to go by May. Players are usually overly optimistic when it comes to timelines. It’s probably best not to count on him at all this season. His fastball almost certainly won’t return to its pre-injury levels and there’s a real question as to how effective he can be with a fastball that tops out at 85-88.

And those counting on Tommy Hunter to repeat what he did last season are probably due for a letdown. The list of pitchers who sustain success with SO/9 below five is a short one. Look no further than Scott Feldman. The Rangers might actually be wise to use Hunter as a trade chip for another bullpen piece. He might have more value to another club looking for a cost effective, young starter.

I look at it this way. Putting Feliz as the closer might be the safest way to win the West, but they won’t likely go far once they get there with that rotation. It also sets back Feliz’s development.

Putting him in the rotation might mean the odds of missing the playoffs goes up because of the risk in changing roles but it gives you a much better chance at winning the World Series if things work out and they make the playoffs. And as a bonus, Feliz is in better position to be a true 200-inning ace next year.

I’d play to win it all this year and if it doesn’t happen, you’re in a better spot to remain competitive in 2012.

Being a closer is the absolute worst place for a pitcher to develop his secondary pitches. Won’t happen. He’ll never use them in games and his bullpen sessions will focus on staying sharp with the pitches he needs to get those three outs. His development gets pretty much put on pause until the off-season.

He’s proven this spring he has enough to be a formidable starting pitcher this season. Nolan Ryan and even Ron Washington have said as much. The only thing apparently holding him back is need, which I just happen to think is a flawed theory because the Rangers need both rotation and bullpen help right now. And I think it’ll be much easier to fill in the bullpen gaps in season as Scheppers gets healthy, Ogando goes back to the pen, and trades become an option.

As for Hunter, I didn’t say he didn’t come up big last season. I said it was unlikely given his inability to miss bats to keep up that level of performance (sub 4 ERA) in the long run. I hope I’m wrong. It’s just rare. His ERA was more than 2 runs higher in the second half last season as he became more prone to the HR and of course he struggled even more in the postseason. I just worry the league is catching up with him. It happens.

I guess my bottom line is that I just don’t believe a postseason rotation of C.J., Colby Lewis, Derek Holland and Tommy Hunter can win the World Series. Whereas I think Feliz (as he develops) could have the type of late-season impact that Bumgarner had for the Giants.

The one thing we can agree on is this is a much better debate to have going into the season than whether Jamey Wright or Robinson Tejeda deserves the fifth starter spot.